Adventure is Out There!

"Tom: 'I'm starting to coil inside. I know I seem dreamy, but inside-well, I'm boiling!- Whenever I pick up a shoe, I shudder a little thinking how short life is and what I am doing!- Whatever that means, I know it doesn't mean shoes- except as something to wear on a traveler's feet!" pg 1268

The "spirit of adventure" is a common phrase of the adorable Disney movie "Up". It is so powerful that it moves an old man, a small wilderness scout, and a floating house on a big adventure to South America. However, the main character in "The Glass Menagerie" proves to us that the spirit of adventure is not always so cute and positive. It is elusive, and tempting, and taunting. It drives Tom to the "movies" every night until early in the morning. It drove away his father from his loving family. And Tom openly admits that he s following in his father's footsteps. He leaves his sister and his mother alone with the lights literally out. Tom considers himself an amateur poet and thinks that he can write his way to fame and fortune and other vague somethings that he can't seem to get out of his mind. His family, his life, nothing is powerful enough to keep him home when the spirit of adventure is calling him. The burden of paying and providing for his family was too much. The burden of his family pushes Tom to pursue a spirit of adventure that leads him not to South Africa in a house aloft with helium balloons, but one that is much more sour.